Brian Prince

Sophos Senior Security Adviser Chester Wisniewski caused a stir Nov. 3 when he repeated claims that Microsoft had rendered the Windows 7 User Account Control feature ineffective. To back this up, Wisniewski cited a test he had run in which numerous pieces of malware ran on Windows 7 without generating any prompts from UAC. In […]

A security researcher has uncovered a serious exploit that could endanger popular Websites. The attack was uncovered by Michael Bailey, a senior security researcher at Foreground Security, and unveiled Oct. 24 at the ToorCon conference in San Diego. According to Bailey, due to the way Web browsers handle cookies, it is possible for a vulnerability […]

Malware and phishing schemes targeting online bankers have spurred a jump in Automated Clearing House (ACH) fraud that has led to $100 million in attempted losses as of October, according to the FBI. In an intelligence note released earlier this week by the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the FBI said that it is seeing […]

In the year since the shutdown of notorious Web hosting firm McColo, spammers are growing strong. In fact, researchers at McAfee reported that spam accounted for 92 percent of e-mail in the second quarter of 2009. Part of this is the result of improvements by botnet operators. Like anyone who is successful what they do, […]

Two sweeping bills that would set new standards for data breach notifications made their way out of the Senate Judiciary Committee Nov. 5. The committee voted yes on the Personal Data Privacy and Security Act of 2009 (S.1490) and the Data Breach Notification Act (S.139). The vote means the bills are now headed to the […]

Microsoft will release six bulletins next week for Patch Tuesday, including three critical bulletins focused on Windows security. All totaled, 15 security vulnerabilities will be fixed in this release. Besides the critical Windows bulletins are three others rated “important.” Among them is a fourth bulletin impacting Windows. Unlike last month, none affect Windows 7, which […]

A researcher at Sophos called the UAC feature in Windows 7 ineffective after numerous pieces of malware snuck by the technology in a test. Microsoft first introduced User Account Control in Windows Vista to improve security. After some users complained the number of alerts it generated were annoying, the company pledged to cut down on […]

A Dutch teenager has backed away from an extortion scheme targeting Apple iPhone users. The scheme was uncovered Nov. 2 when reports surfaced that an attacker was compromising iPhones and holding them for ransom. After using port scanning and OS fingerprinting to find iPhones in T-Mobile’s 3G IP range, the attacker took advantage of the […]

M86 Security has acquired Finjan as part of a push into the enterprise secure Web gateway and software-as-a-service businesses. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the buy is the latest in a string of acquisitions and mergers by the company. Formed last year by the merger of Marshal and 8e6 Technologies and […]

The Pirate Bay shutdown didn’t slow piracy. In fact, according to McAfee, the number of new file-sharing sites hosting unauthorized, copyrighted content shot up in the past three months. In their Third Quarter Threats Report, researchers at McAfee took a look at piracy scene. What they found was that cyber-criminals are taking advantage of The […]

Federal authorities unsealed charges in Boston Nov. 2 against a man they allege developed tools to help people steal free Internet access by modifying cable modems. Charges against 26-year-old Ryan Harris, who has residences in Redmond, Ore., and San Diego, were unveiled Nov. 2. According to authorities, Ryan and the company he founded, TCNISO, developed […]

Microsoft announced Nov. 3 that it has two new premium editions of SQL Server 2008 R2 in store for users and remains on track to release a community technology preview for the database in November. At the PASS (Professional Association for SQL Server) Community Summit, in Seattle, Ted Kummert, Microsoft’s senior vice president of the […]